Lossless classics

All thanks for this masterwork go to Jean-LucThis is not the 1980 release I posted last Easter. This is a 1st pressing of Richter’s recording from 1958Karl Richter’s performance makes the text real for me. If I’m going to spend 3.5 hours listening to the central message of Christianity then I want it done by people who at least give the impression of meaning what they sing. Karl Richter & Co. make me believe they believe what they sing by the reverence with which they convey the meaning of the text….

Due to some little digital issues, sideG is fixed and a new file is uploaded, to replace the old sideG.

….other ways these recordings qualify as HIP are KR’s articulation of the score. Yes he uses modern instruments but this was a conscious choice on his part not to ignore the development of instruments since Bach’s time. He uses modern versions of all the instruments called for in the score, he articulates the music in the way we’ve come to know as Baroque performing style, his singers sing the written trills which echo the instrumental accompaniment. In so many ways this is a Historically Informed Performance.
KR uses a fairly large double choir but their pitch and articulation is so good they are able to bring out all of the polyphonic strands in the music. I’ve heard may smaller choirs sound much less focused than the Munich Bach Choir.

Thank you for this great record.
For those who are interested, here are the .cue files (copy and paste them to 8 individual files). Also, there are no transitions, you can cut it in individual files if you like.

real masterpiece, much more interesting, than Maestro’s later rendition.
along with Mengelberg and Klemperer renditions is one of the summits in Bach’s oratorio recorded heritage.
but till now the printed score holds its position being unrivaled…

The 1980 version is not a re-issue of this 1958 1st pressing but a new recording with many different singers (but still performed by K. Richter). So it’s interesting to compare the two versions, sounding and performing speaking. The best one isn’t inevitably the latest one…